News – The Keyhttp://thekey.xpn.org
Discover Philly's Best Local MusicFri, 16 Feb 2018 22:09:49 +0000en-UShourly1Holy smokes! Philly’s The War on Drugs just won a Grammy.http://thekey.xpn.org/2018/01/28/holy-smokes-phillys-war-drugs-just-won-grammy/
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The War on Drugs | photo by Galea McGregor for WXPN

Instead of saying “Philly’s The War on Drugs,” we’re now able to say “Philly’s Grammy Award-winning The War on Drugs.”

Adam Granduciel and his band of space rock soundscapers just took home the Best Rock Album trophy for their 2017 LP A Deeper Understanding at the 60th annual Grammy Awards, which is taking place this evening at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Drugs were up against Queens of the Stone Age’s Villains, Nothing More’s The Stories We Tell Ourselves, Metallica’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, and Mastodon’s Emperor of Sand in the Best Rock Album category. They’ll play songs from the record live at the XPoNential Music Festival on Saturday, July 28th; tickets and more information can be found at XPNFest.org.

Big congratulations from all of us at the Key and XPN families to Adam and The War on Drugs. Below, listen to the band’s session on World Cafe with Talia Schlanger, and watch the band perform “Knocked Down” in XPN Studios.

]]>Queen of Jeans have some news of news for us in teaser video bliphttp://thekey.xpn.org/2018/01/26/queen-of-jeans-teaser/
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Philly indie pop crooners Queen of Jeans have some news for ya. Well, not just quite yet. They have news of news. But still, yay.

A month after the fun four-piece announced their joining of the Topshelf Records family, the band has shared a blip of a teaser video today announcing a very important date. Set to clear acapella harmonies and rushing water, the Queens sound more like folklore sirens than their usual retro rock stars.

Ending with the words “Dig Yourself” and the day, March 30th, I’m guessing there’s some new tunes coming for us real quick. And the Facebook caption “SOON (like, next week)” hints that we’ll know what’s up soon. Like next week.

At a New York press conference with Anderson Cooper this morning, the Sir Elton John announced his retirement from touring. But don’t worry, not just yet. You can still say your goodbyes to the music legend’s live show as he’s soon embarking on a whopping 300-show run, dubbed the ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour.

In a live-streamed video from the conference, John explains his reasoning to stop touring. He states, “My priorities have changed in my life. Ten years ago, if you’d have said I’m gonna stop touring, I’d have said, ‘No no, I’m a working musician. I always play.’ But we had children and that changed our lives.”

“I don’t want to go out with a whimper. I want to go out with a bang,” John followed. “It’ll be the most produced, fantastic show I’ve ever done.” Don’t miss out on your last chance to bellow along to “Tiny Dancer” in concert, when the tour kicks off this September at Allentown’s PPL Center and stays for two stops at Philly’s Wells Fargo Center.

Tickets go on sale February 2nd at 10 AM. Find info on the Philly shows here and check out the rest of the tour dates below.

Tour announcement season is officially upon us! With a handful of star-studded spring/summer lineups already announced (Waxahatchee / Hurray For The Riff Raff / Bedouine at Union Transfer on 4/16; Japanese Breakfast / LVL UP / Radiator Hospital at Union Transfer on 6/3; Dr. Dog / (Sandy) Alex G at The Festival Pier on 6/23), it’s only fitting that one of the best modern day Hip-Hop labels announces the tour of the summer.

In 2017, label powerhouses Kendrick Lamar and SZA both dropped chart-topping, Grammy nomination-earning albums in the form of DAMN. and Ctrl, respectively – the former being voted The Key’s favorite album of 2017. With the announcement of this tour, TDE is building on an already impressive start to 2018. In just 22 days of the New Year, Kendrick Lamar performed the first halftime show at the College Football National Championship game, Lamar and TDE CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith curated and produced the soundtrack to Marvel’s upcoming film Black Panther, and just last week, label newcomer SiR released his debut album “November.”

The collaborative nature of being labelmates lends itself to many of TDE’s artists appearing on each other’s songs. Ranging from R&B collabs grounded by SZA to posse cuts billed under the name Black Hippy, the tour’s setlist is bound to be chaotically unpredictable. Listen below to a sample of the label’s works. Visit the handy Concert Calendar to keep track of all the year’s best shows, and to find more information and tickets for this show.

Note: Some of the music videos may be NSFW.

]]>The Decemberists are back to the future with their synth-y new single “Severed” and a Mann Center gig this Junehttp://thekey.xpn.org/2018/01/17/the-decemberists-single-the-mann/
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The Decemberists | photo courtesy of artist

The Decemberists’ rich and earthy folk music always lingers with a sense of the past, but it was their recent offshoot project, Offa Rex, that quite literally time travelled back to the way olden days by solely performing traditional English folk songs with guest singer, Olivia Chaney. Now, the band is time traveling again — only this time, to the future.

With the release of their new single “Severed,” we hear the results of working with new producer, John Congelton (St. Vincent, Lana Del Ray, The Districts) for a unique mix of prog and garage rock sounds that morphs into a futuristic, space-y kind of folk breed. Listen to the single below.

The Decemberists new album I’ll Be Your Girl will be released on March 16th via Capitol Records. After which, they’ll be touring the record, which lands them in Philly at The Mann Center on June 7th. Tickets go on sale this Friday the 19th at 10 a.m., which you can find over at the XPN Concert Calendar.